A friend emailed me for my ultimate festival line up. He gave me the timeslots and so here’s what I told him:
It has to be subjective - I'm not compromising so some jazz fan can get their rocks off to Billy Holiday.
1pm Elvis Presley 57
3pm The Who 73
5pm Jimi Hendrix 68
7pm Faces 74
9pm Rolling Stones 72
11pm Sex Pistols 77
Apologies to the Jam, Clash, Damned, Buzzcocks, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Roxy Music, Funkadelic, Beatles, Can, Smiths, Joy Division, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, James Brown, Kraftwerk, Little Richard, Robert Johnson, Iggy and the Stooges, Velvets, Love, Chic, Marvin Gaye, Led Zeppelin, Nick Drake, the Pogues, Bowie, Byrds, Beach Boys, T Rex, Pixies, Birthday Party etc etc ...
all of whom were good 'turns'.
I was conscious of the lack of laydeez but couldn't think of anyone that would cut it live compared with my choices. The seventies were well and truly the golden age for popular music. Absolutely no contest - so the bulk of my choices come from that era. Modern music is relatively poor in general. I think I make more effort than most to keep up to date but there is no question that standards have declined, probably because people are less interested and it's more difficult to be original.
It has to be subjective - I'm not compromising so some jazz fan can get their rocks off to Billy Holiday.
1pm Elvis Presley 57
3pm The Who 73
5pm Jimi Hendrix 68
7pm Faces 74
9pm Rolling Stones 72
11pm Sex Pistols 77
Apologies to the Jam, Clash, Damned, Buzzcocks, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Roxy Music, Funkadelic, Beatles, Can, Smiths, Joy Division, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, James Brown, Kraftwerk, Little Richard, Robert Johnson, Iggy and the Stooges, Velvets, Love, Chic, Marvin Gaye, Led Zeppelin, Nick Drake, the Pogues, Bowie, Byrds, Beach Boys, T Rex, Pixies, Birthday Party etc etc ...
all of whom were good 'turns'.
I was conscious of the lack of laydeez but couldn't think of anyone that would cut it live compared with my choices. The seventies were well and truly the golden age for popular music. Absolutely no contest - so the bulk of my choices come from that era. Modern music is relatively poor in general. I think I make more effort than most to keep up to date but there is no question that standards have declined, probably because people are less interested and it's more difficult to be original.